A friend and I were on a sloop.
Because of the design configuration, 1 barrel has enough to destroy the Anchor/Ship-Wheel/And Mast - Full Damage on each thing - with putting numerous holes to bail water too. So now, you're in a situation where you have to not only save your ship from sinking (regularly this was fine) but now the ship damage will cause a huge problem for anyone on a sloop.
And all it takes is 1 barrel. Even a suicide barrel strike would be a crippling blow.
Here are the facts that I just tested:
1 Barrel strike coming up the right ladder did this
4 BIG holes to repair (7 second repair time each) - 3 Mid deck. 1 Bottom deck.
Anchor wheel - 1 Plank to repair - now you have to raise it to get moving again.
Ship Mast - 3 Planks to repair - time required to raise and reset sails to wind.
Ship wheel - 3 planks to repair - Need to get back to moving.
Plus time to bail the water out of your ship.
I tested the Brig and Galley under the same conditions.
Brig has a + 1 plank requirement for anchor wheel dmg and the second mast gets max dmg too so that is a + 3 require = +4 total.
Galley. The front mast survived. It has a + 1 requirement over the brig for the anchorwheel.
And the arguements to avoid/get Gud/dont let them explode/ Please find another thread to write in.
This is bad game balance. Period.